1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates virtual environments and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for inter-relating virtual environment and web content.
2. Description of the Related Art
Virtual environments simulate actual or fantasy 3-D environments and allow for many participants to interact with each other and with constructs in the environment via remotely-located clients. One context in which a virtual environment may be used is in connection with gaming, although other uses for virtual environments are also being developed.
In a virtual environment, an actual or fantasy universe is simulated within a computer processor/memory. Multiple people may participate in the virtual environment through a computer network, such as a local area network or a wide area network such as the Internet. Each player selects an “Avatar” which is often a three-dimensional representation of a person or other object to represent them in the virtual environment. Participants send commands to a virtual environment server that controls the virtual environment to cause their Avatars to move within the virtual environment. In this way, the participants are able to cause their Avatars to interact with other Avatars and other objects in the virtual environment.
A virtual environment often takes the form of a virtual-reality three dimensional map, and may include rooms, outdoor areas, and other representations of environments commonly experienced in the physical world. The virtual environment may also include multiple objects, people, animals, robots, Avatars, robot Avatars, spatial elements, and objects/environments that allow Avatars to participate in activities. Participants establish a presence in the virtual environment via a virtual environment client on their computer, through which they can create an Avatar and then cause the Avatar to “live” within the virtual environment.
As the Avatar moves within the virtual environment, the view experienced by the Avatar changes according to where the Avatar is located within the virtual environment. The views may be displayed to the participant so that the participant controlling the Avatar may see what the Avatar is seeing. Additionally, many virtual environments enable the participant to toggle to a different point of view, such as from a vantage point outside of the Avatar, to see where the Avatar is in the virtual environment.
The participant may control the Avatar using conventional input devices, such as a computer mouse and keyboard. The inputs are sent to the virtual environment client which forwards the commands to one or more virtual environment servers that are controlling the virtual environment and providing a representation of the virtual environment to the participant via a display associated with the participant's computer.
Depending on how the virtual environment is set up, an Avatar may be able to observe the environment and optionally also interact with other Avatars, modeled objects within the virtual environment, robotic objects within the virtual environment, or the environment itself (i.e. an Avatar may be allowed to go for a swim in a lake or river in the virtual environment). In these cases, client control input may be permitted to cause changes in the modeled objects, such as moving other objects, opening doors, and so forth, which optionally may then be experienced by other Avatars within the virtual environment.
“Interaction” by an Avatar with another modeled object in a virtual environment means that the virtual environment server simulates an interaction in the modeled environment, in response to receiving client control input for the Avatar. Interactions by one Avatar with any other Avatar, object, the environment or automated or robotic Avatars may, in some cases, result in outcomes that may affect or otherwise be observed or experienced by other Avatars, objects, the environment, and automated or robotic Avatars within the virtual environment.
A virtual environment may be created for the user, but more commonly the virtual environment may be persistent, in which it continues to exist and be supported by the virtual environment server even when the user is not interacting with the virtual environment. Thus, where there is more than one user of a virtual environment, the environment may continue to evolve when a user is not logged in, such that the next time the user enters the virtual environment it may be changed from what it looked like the previous time.
Virtual environments are commonly used in on-line gaming, such as for example in online role playing games where users assume the role of a character and take control over most of that character's actions. In addition to games, virtual environments are also being used to simulate real life environments to provide an interface for users that will enable on-line education, training, shopping, workplace collaboration, and other types of interactions between groups of users and between businesses and users.
As Avatars encounter other Avatars within the virtual environment, the participants represented by the Avatars may elect to communicate with each other. For example, the participants may communicate with each other by typing messages to each other or an audio bridge may be established to enable the participants to talk with each other.
There are times when it would be advantageous to integrate external content and applications into the three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment. For example, it may be desirable to enable the user to have access to web-based content and web-based applications. There is a vast array of web applications that have been developed and which are available on the Internet. This trend is likely to continue as well. For example, customer relationship management software, enterprise resource planning, document management, calendars, e-mail, and other applications are all available on-line. Similarly, vast amounts of static and dynamic content are available on-line for free or on a subscription basis.
Unfortunately, web content and web applications have not been integrated with virtual environments. Although some virtual environments enable web content to be displayed (mapped) to a three-dimensional surface in the virtual environment, depending on the implementation this typically does not enable users of the virtual environment to interact with the web content. For example, if a web page is displayed in the virtual environment, the users of the virtual environment may not be able to click on links in the web page but may only be able to see the web page. In other implementations, only limited types of content may be available, and the virtual environment may not enable other types of content such as FLASH video, games, etc. to be provided in the virtual environment. Thus, embedding web content in virtual environments has, to date, been less than ideal. Additionally, these solutions do not enable applications to be implemented within the virtual environment and are generally limited to mapping web content to a surface of the three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment.
Some virtual environments enable a web browser to be launched from the virtual environment. This results in a very limited form of integration between the virtual environment and the web content, since the act of launching the web browser will cause a new window (pop-up) to be opened within which the web content is rendered. Each time the user elects to receive content in this manner a new window (or new tab) will be opened to provide the user with the selected web content. However, the user is not able to use the web content to influence the virtual environment but rather is relegated to interacting with the web content separately from the virtual environment.
It is also possible to embed a virtual environment within an Internet (web) browser, such that the virtual environment is accessed through the web browser. A virtual environment that is rendered in a web browser will be referred to as a “web embedded virtual environment.” Embedding a virtual environment in an Internet browser enables web based content to be displayed alongside the virtual environment in the web-browser window rather than in a pop-up window. The user can thus use one part of the browser window to view web content, and can interact with the virtual environment in another part of the web browser window.
Unfortunately, even where the virtual environment is embedded in a web browser, the content shown in the web browser is not related to the content of the virtual environment. Rather, the virtual environment and web browser independent, such that the activities that the user takes in the web browser are not reflected in the virtual environment and vice-versa. Moreover, the applications running in the web browser do not react to or influence the state of the 3D virtual environment.